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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-21-2012 03:00 PM

Steve001

Quote:

Originally Posted by felixn

Thank you everyone for the great input!

I did a bunch of research on the plasma lights, and my bottom line is that interestingly enough the products out there are simply not 100% mature yet. Apparently the gavina has the reflector thing down, but only comes with a square reflector. The seashine has a 60 by120 reflector which would be the thing to use but is a less efficient reflector and overall lamp. I really liked the idea of a full spectrum, that is something LED really don't have.

Nevertheless from what I can tell the plasma light really doesnt do much better than a t5 HO or CF fixture at the socket and those are full spectrum as well.

I am back to LED and will be giving wingoled a ring. I have to figure out exactly what I would get going with him over the upcoming AI vega or radions. That really would be the same price after all.

I've never heard of anyone actually recommending any of those plasma type lights or whatever. Couldn't tell you a thing about them... except that I've never seen any or know where to look

Follow the link I posted. This site keeps abreast of the newest lighting technologies for aquaria

05-21-2012 01:40 PM

felixn

Thank you everyone for the great input!

I did a bunch of research on the plasma lights, and my bottom line is that interestingly enough the products out there are simply not 100% mature yet. Apparently the gavina has the reflector thing down, but only comes with a square reflector. The seashine has a 60 by120 reflector which would be the thing to use but is a less efficient reflector and overall lamp. I really liked the idea of a full spectrum, that is something LED really don't have.

Nevertheless from what I can tell the plasma light really doesnt do much better than a t5 HO or CF fixture at the socket and those are full spectrum as well.

I am back to LED and will be giving wingoled a ring. I have to figure out exactly what I would get going with him over the upcoming AI vega or radions. That really would be the same price after all.

05-19-2012 05:06 PM

jcgd

I've never heard of anyone actually recommending any of those plasma type lights or whatever. Couldn't tell you a thing about them... except that I've never seen any or know where to look.

LEDs draw a heck of a lot less, regardless of fans and such. If you even swapped from cfls in your house to standard LED bulbs you can drop your lighting power consumption easily in half. From incandescent you are talk more like 1/5 of the power or less.

A Wingo fixture like your quoted one would probably draw around 180 watts or less running full bore. This a a estimated guess but:

And many people end up dialing everything back. So think more like 120 watts or so.

05-19-2012 04:56 PM

plantbrain

You could look at pugman's 180 ADA thread, he spent about 2000$ but it's already made and ready to go, depends if you have idle time and like DIY.
If not, how much would you pay yourself to make something like this for someone else?

Adds up.

05-19-2012 04:53 PM

jcgd

I am afraid to add up my fixture, but I'm thinking around $1500-2000. I'm not very organized so finding all the receipts would be brutal. That includes some tools like a solder station and other odd balls. It adds up quick and I even had some freebies, like the aluminum housing. But I also took months to build mine. The hole tapping alone took 12 hours straight.

Like Hoppy said, the quote is really quite good when you consider that you will have about the same functionality as I do but the assembly time will be a fraction of what mine was. I don't believe everyone has the know-how or trade skills to do what I did, but the kits make it much simpler. It's a decent price for a one stop shop.

You could also do something like two radions, one over each hole in the brace, but you have to be willing to deal with the uneven lighting. You may have to shine whatever light use use through the bracing and deal with the outcome. It's going to be hard to have even lighting through only the open areas of the brace.

05-18-2012 09:18 PM

felixn

Glad to hear wingoleds estimate sounds right. He did give me the impression of a friendly guy passionate about what he does.

I know what you mean about RGB led use. That is essentially another step closer to disco and spot differences. My ideal way of controlling temperature might just be to run 3 channels neutral white cool white and warm white and dim them against each other until I have the color I want. Its justa guess but that way each LED already has far more chromaticity than a single spike.

Does anyone know how those plasma things compare in electrical efficiency?

i realize most LEDS come in at about 150 lumen per watt, but the cooling fans, the PS etc. all contribute to a significantly lower fixture efficiency.

That chameleon advertised 17000 lumen (and my understanding is that fixture essentially brings its entire spectrum within PAR especially since so much less is in the blue) at 300watt consumption for the fixture that brings about 56 lumen per watt...not so grand.

It takes a surprising amount of money for the odds and ends of hardware for a LED light, so I see nothing out of place on that estimate. I calculate that about 48 XP-G LEDs, with 40 degree optics, will give you the PAR you want, with the light about a foot above the top of the tank, and if you use something like 16 Neutral White and 32 Cool White with separate dimmable drivers for the two colors you would have some control over the color of the lighting. Personally I am not yet sold on using blue, green and red LEDs to augment the color. There should be no spotlighting with that design.

05-18-2012 06:30 PM

felixn

Could you comment on the total component cost of the DIY build you did? To include things like the soldering iron, the hanging bracks and all the cables and accessories one ends up purchasing.

I think you did a very nice job and neded up with a fixture in line with what I am looking for.

That component cost plus a $400 build fee sounds like a fair gig for me to shoot for.

05-18-2012 06:24 PM

jcgd

I think you really have to use spotlighting to your advantage. Rather than try to beat it, run with it.

Or stick with t5ho.

05-18-2012 06:22 PM

jcgd

You could light it well for less than $500 with par 38 led bulbs and a DIY fixture. The fixture would have to be tall though, probably 8-10". You would use regular old screw in outlets. I'm using two over my new 4' tank but if you used 6-8 I would think it would be pretty uniform.

05-18-2012 06:12 PM

felixn

It looks to me like the Chameleon solution would also cost 1400, and deliver a luminous flux of 17000 lumen. I don't see a reason to do the comparison with the 2000 PAR @ 12 inches as the entire output spectrum is usable and the color seems pleasant from a webpage anyways :p

If one gives the maxspect the benefit of the doubt and pretends blue light is as favored by plants as all others (it is not), then a 5 pendant fixture would give the equivalent lumen output. And incidentally pretty much use the exact same wattage of 300.

That is very interesting indeed!

The problem is then I have gone from many spotlights to one insanely bright spot on a quest for even lighting. Does anyone have experience how much control can be exerted with reflectors there? I presume this would be easily answered by someone who has run metal halides on a planted tank.

05-18-2012 05:36 PM

felixn

Thank you for replying.

I had actually read your entire build thread JCGD. Very cool indeed. my guess was that with all components and supplies your total cost was around $800? Does that sound right? I don't mind the offers build fee of $400 at all, that sounds reasonable to me. Even so the offer clocks in at another $500 on top of that. It could well be justified, but I have no way of knowing that beforehand. As I am really not sure what kind of build quality, light distribution and adjustability I would get in return.

I think you have a point mentioning that I should consider non LED setups.
I realize that much of the trouble for LED applications for my purpose traditional methods do not have:

1.) spot lighting, uneven light

2.) difficulty achieving desired colors and control of color

I had never heard of induction lighting used in aquaria before. INTERESTING!

This white paperhttp://www.lightingwizards.com/Downl...reetlights.pdf essentially states that from an efficiency standpoint LED's have replaced induction lighting. But if the fixture is significantly less expensive and immediately solves my coverage issues it might be the way to go. After all we really dont have the reef issue of needing MORE light in one spot we want the same light evenly dispersed. At least I do.

What would you suggest as far as induction goes? A single pro 400 or 2 two pro 200?

If you were suggesting two pro 400 that seems like 4x the electricity to me. I would also not have a way of dimming that fixture and be quite worried of the amount of light THAT would put out.

05-18-2012 02:59 PM

Steve001

Quote:

Originally Posted by felixn

I could really use your expert guidance for the 180 gallon I am setting up. I will try to keep my initial post short.

Can anyone here offer some guidance?

It looks like a custom build costs the same as the highest end shelf solutions and I cant say they would compare on looks...

For a tank that size there are other options for you to consider.

There's florescent induction light.
I know of only one company producing fluorescent induction lighting for aquaria. http://www.inda-gro.com/